Hi MiA. Thank you very kindly for asking.
X axis = left or right movement. Y = forward or back. Z = up or down. I already have 2, but still debating the need for the 3rd axis. The mill comes with a built-in depth dial that allows plunge milling by increments of 0.001″ inch. A digital readout for Z-axis would be spoiling myself.
Here’s what the remote readouts look like. They work exactly like digital calipers.
The mill comes with an R8 collet for a drill chuck or end mills. I have spare chucks, collets, and a few end mills.
Since the first chassis. I have been making drawings based on using a milling machine. Every drawing has a zero point at the bottom left corner.
To make sure every chassis starts out at the same spot. You slide the work piece up to a block that’s being held tight across the jaws. Using an edge-finder to perfectly locate the corner. You can zero the readouts to the corner across both axis. Then make next 100 chassis’s knowing that zero is the same spot for every one. No more scribed lines. Measurements as perfect as the digital readouts can produce. Super fast, and super precise.
I also bought a rotary table. It will allow fancy stuff like milling 5-holes in heavy wheels, evenly spaced every 72-degrees.
Parallels are required to hold and support work material in the vise. They come in various sizes.
Last but not least. You can’t put a 135-pound mill on a simple wooden workbench. In for a penny, in for a pound. Here’s a proper mill stand to catch all the metal shavings, and prevent the bench from collapsing. It’s worth 25% of the price of the darn mill. Anyone want a really precise aluminum chassis? I need to start paying for this equipment somehow.
The idea behind this was precise repeatablility. Every chassis thereafter will be as good as the first one. No duds allowed.